Letter belt



Jan. 12 192e. 1,569,339-,

J. E.' McMuLLr-:N

lLETTER BELT original Filed June 9, 1924 Jhn BNQNulleu INVENTOR.

A TTORNE Y.

Patented Jan. 12, 1ere.v

UNITED STATESy JOHN E. MCMULLEN, or COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA.

LETTER BELT.

Application led Iune 9, 1924, Serial No. 718,996. Renewed June 27, 1925.

T0 all LU/tom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN E. MCMULLEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Council Bluffs, in the county of Pottawattamie and State of Iowa, have inventedy a new and useful Letter Belt, of which the fol lowing is a speciication.

My invention relates to improvements in belts to hold packages of letters, in which a belt or band is attached by a detachable means to a buckle having a pawl or catch to allow the band to pass underneath it in one direction and to be held in the opposite direction until released.

I attain these objects by the structure illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is a cross section of the entire device; Fig. 2 is a plan of the buckle showing the strap in place; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of said belt; Fig. 4 is an end elevation.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

To mail clerks who handlelarge volumes of letters and for other purposes, it is highly desirable to obtain a suitable flexible band easily attachable and detachable at one end to an adjustable buckle for the purpose of temporarily holding the said package together, so that by a manipulation of the (ingers the band is tightlyl drawn about the package of mail and easily and quickly released.

A flexible band l of thin material as parchment is employed for the band; a buckle f2 is formed with a wedge shape 3 at one end and has a slidingV ferrule 4 adapted to move against, but not fully over, the wedge shape portion 3. The buckle 2 has a portion in line with the wedge portion S adapted to come in contact with the letters or articles about which the band is placed at 5. From this portion, a portion extends in a curved and outward shape at 6 so that the linger or thumb placed upon the band l where the same touches the buckle at 6 will hold the same temporarily in position. Above the portion 5 of said buckle 2 and pivotally supported in the buckle at the points 9 and 10 respectively, at either end is a pawl 7 slightly flattened upon one side, so that when the same is turned in one direction, the pawl 7 impinges upon the band l where the latter passes over the buckle at 5. The space 8 between the pawl 7 and the buckle at 6 is filled so as to leave the pawl 7 projecting on one side only, and so as to hold the band or tape down nearly in place at 6 and allowing an 60 aperture through which the band l passes.

Belt or band l is placed on the outer side of the tapered portion 3 of the buckle. The oblong ferrule 4 is then pulled over the end of the band l towardsv the increasing poro5 tion of the buckle at 3, thus tightly clamping the liXed end of the band to the buckle, but allowing the band to be removed for the purposes of removal or renewal of the band l. brought underneath the pawl 7 and between it and the buckle at 5 and passes up underneath the portion 7 and over the portion G of the buckle. As one thumb of the person holding the package may be applied at 6 75 pawl on the top towards the buckle the band will be loosened and the free end of the band l may be released from underneath the pawl 7, thus permitting the removal of any portion of the package, and by simply reversing the operation the band may be placed around another smaller or different package to which it is applied.

' What I desire to secure by Letters Patent is' errule on the same adapted to move upon said tapered portion; a raised portion of the said buckle formed therein; a flattened pawl at the end of said buckle and adapted to press the said band against a flattened end portion thereof; and a detachable flexible belt adapted to be held tightly beneath said ferrule on said buckle at one end and to freely pass underneath said pawl at the other end over the raised portion of said buckle. y

JOHN E. MCMULLEN.

The free end of the band is then 70 Thus the 80 A buckle having a tapered portion and a 95 

